Ventura had no business coaching the national team but its not his fault. when you have three Italians playing for top clubs, what do you expect? Buffon is GK so i don't count him but Barzagli is 36, DeRossi is 34. Then we Verratti who never convinced me and Astori on the bench? Only 20 years ago, this roster was would have been laughable... Italia (3-5-2): Buffon; Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini; Candreva, Parolo, De Rossi, Verratti (76' Insigne), Darmian; Belotti (65' Eder), Immobile
This comes down to Italian clubs not developing Italian players and Conte+Ventura refusing to integrate youth into the team. The likes Gagliardini, Berardi, Insigne, Rugani, Caldara etc should be playing a bigger role in this team. Unless they can go through I on penalties I cant see Italy making it to this world cup but it may be exactly what Italy needs.
There is 0 excuse to lose to Sweden no matter how bad you believe the players are now....it is still Italy vs Sweden no excuses.
Congrats to Ventura, he is the First Italian coach that has ZERO tactics. Truly one of a kind. He basically plays the same exact way every game, no matter the score or importance. No changing things up, trying different things, no directions to the players on the field. Just stand there soulless waiting for the game to end.
Why does everyone on this board knock Verratti? His talent is so obvious - sure, not the complete package currently, but definitely one of the better mids in Europe.
Not sure. I'm thinking its maybe because he has never played one game in Serie A? Or maybe because Ligue 1 is levels below the "level of the (Italian) league" and where his only competition is Caen, Rennes and Monaco? Just a thought...
His performances for the national team have been so off lately. But I think not all that is his fault.
Limits on foreign players is not the solution. Developing talent following a proper successful system/model like the Spanish and German one is the only way to go forward. The league's problem is that they are taking their sweet time to implement it. Stranger is that they were able to push forward VAR a year earlier then planned because of the petty teams in Italy wanted to try and dethrone Juventus.
If they get eliminated on Monday, the time to start implementing these things will be next summer when the new Serie A season begins.
The Spanish have a great team. The Germans had the luxury of having a fairly easy group. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_–_UEFA_Group_C
I mean in terms of "Developing talent following a proper successful system/model like the Spanish and German"?
Traditionally, neither the Spanish or the Germans of were better than Italy. Things have changed in the last 7 years but I still think the lack of fielding more Italian players on top Serie A clubs is what is holding Italy's national team back.
So this clown was already planning for a substandard result from the very beginning? Great optimism coach, the players absorbed every ounce of your mindset.
I explained it in the other thread. A friend of mine who speaks German told me that when Italy played Germany at under 21 level a year or two ago the German commentator said that the German players had considerably more experience of playing in the Bundesliga than the Italian players had of playing in Serie A. If you don't nurture talent at the crucial stages of a player's development when they are too old for the Primavera category by giving it top quality playing time in Serie A, including exposing it to foreign opposition in CL and EL, you shouldn't be suprised that most talent wastes away between the ages of 18/19-21/22. Generally speaking, over the last decade Serie A coaches have preferred to rely on experience over talent.
Just look at who is starting. I could name about 7 or 8 central defenders from 20 years ago from Vierchowod , Cravero, Baresi, Ferrara, Costacurta Minotti to Petruzzi and Appoloni but I can’t name that many now. Looking at the 3rd GK from a week team in Genoa will never have happened in the past. Cervone, Marcheggiani and Toldo were all better than the current lot. These players weren’t unknown because they were starting and playing well for their clubs. This is no longer the case. Even a player like Moriero who came out of the blue from Roma and started for Inter is nowhere to be found. Even if the game has changed, I’m sure where those guys came from, there had to be others but there aren’t.
It's tough because how do you stop that? Unless all the other league's start doing it there will be no incentive to start. I was reading that Italy has 55% foreign players and Germany has 50%. Does that 5% really make that much of a difference? Maybe that is 1 or 2 players getting lost in the grand scheme of things. Regardless I still would love to have more Italians playing in the Serie A and for my club team. That national team is important to me as well and winning the scudetto, however winning it with almost no Italian players would not "Inter"est me. Tough when there is a lot of money on the line to think of the betterment of the nation, the league has to find a way to make teams do this without hurting them and still allowing them to compete. Aside from me thinking that having less foreign players will help to improve the situation, a big part of me knows that had this team had a better coach at the helm the sentiment would be a lot different. Goinf be on that, our players are nowhere near the quality they used to be, however a big part of that is just due to this generation. In 4-8 years that may all be different. Every nation goes through ups and downs in terms of player production. Soccer is still love in Italy, kids still grow up with the same hopes and dreams that the legends we no longer have did. Just somewhat of a bad spell that for the most part should correct itself.
The situation will not correct itself unless things change, otherwise the situation will only deteriorate further.
What obvious talent has he shown when wearing la maglia azzurra? I have been waiting patiently. Still waiting.
The only guys he's played with are Immobile and Insigne (if I remember correctly). None of the midfielders.
To an extent...talented players are still being born in Italy. Definitely could use more of a chance to play at a young age though.
Yes, there are always talented youngsters, but if they are not developed - like you say by getting playing time in Serie A anbd CL/EL - you can't expect them to help make the Azzurri a force in international football.
The ones that really shine will usually make It through. The problem is with more of the late bloomer types or players who do not make an immediate impact do not end up getting the playing time they need and probably never fully develope. More playing time for any youth in all cases is without a doubt essential for growth and those minutes become more and more limited when we are developing foreigners instead. There just isn't enough incentive for club teams at the moment to try and develop their own young countrymen.